The present invention relates to a device for transfer ring the film holders of a film developer in the succession of the tanks containing the various chemical baths. This device permits the different stages of the film development cycle to be performed within a time which is near to the recommended minimum time, which results in a considerable reduction of the entire treatment time. Such a device is an improvement over to the film developer described in the applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,799 issued on Oct. 9, 1984, and to which further reference will be made.
In such a developer, transfer of the film holders in the succession of the treatment tanks is performed in a succession of stages within times which are equal or multiple with reference to the time utilized for performing the first basic stage, the so-called development stage.
As is already known, the required minimum times recommended by the film manufacturers for permitting the several stages of the entire development cycle to be completely carried out, are different: some manufactures recommend times which are shorter than the time utilized for performing the first stage, the so-called development stage, while other manufactures on the contrary, recommend times which are longer but less than that time.
The transferring system, provided on the film developer referred to, permits the films to be immersed into the baths relating to the stages which are subsequent to the first stage and these films remain immersed therein for time periods which are longer that the recommended minimum time period.
Consequently, the overall time period, which is recommended for permitting the entire development cycle to be carried out, is greater than that which is really necessary. It is known, that the time periods in which the films remain immersed in the baths, during such stages, are longer than the recommended minimum ones and do not cause problems as far as the image quality is concerned. It would be clearly desirable and is an object of the present invention to shorten these time periods, in such a way as to bring the time periods for each single stage nearest to the respective recommended minimum time period, so as to shorten the required time period for carrying out the entire development cycle. This object is obtained by the device according to the present invention, which is constituted by a transferring arm similar to that one provided on the film developer of U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,799 but different with respect thereto, said device being characterized in that said transferring arm is constituted by two rods, a first fixed rod which is applied in the same manner and is actuated by the same means provided for actuating the above described transferring arm on the said film developer and a second movable rod which is longitudinally slidable with respect to said first fixed rod; fork elements being also provided to engage the film holders and transfer them some fork elements being disposed on said first fixed rod and some fork elements on said second slidable rod, the slidable rod being also positionable in two different positions with respect to said first fixed rod comprising a first position in which all the fork elements are disposed equally spaced from each other so as to be able to engage and transfer a respective film holder for any actuation of the arm, and a second portion in which the fork elements which are disposed on the said second slidable rod are so shifted such that they do not engage or transfer the respective film holders, the arm being cyclically actuated within time periods which are submultiples of the time period in which the development stage is carried out, so that the double positioning of the slidable rod permits the time periods in which the film remains immersed into the different tanks to be varied, from a minimum time period corresponding to that one of an actuating cycle of the arm, to time periods which are multiple with respect to that time period but which are not double with respect to the time period in which the development stage is carried out; a shifting device being also provided to control in a cyclical manner the shiftings and positionings of the slidable rod; the device further comprises synchronization means which hold the actuating cycles of the slidable rod and the actuating cycles of the arm in a correct relationship, and also comprises control and safety means.